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Okay, let's talk about this "Christians are the most persecuted" mishegas. The article cited by this Catholic software company trying to get a Jewish guy fired for daring to say that Christians aren't actually 'most persecuted' is typical of the top 10 hits on Google. https://twitter.com/ConnectCatholic/status/1280623409609666560
All of them proclaim "most persecuted" by pointing to this article, a Christian publication that doesn't even try to pretend to be objective. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2018/29-june/news/world/christians-are-the-most-persecuted-religious-group-in-the-world-says-report
That article points to this Pew report - which doesn't say that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world. Not by a long shot. It *does* say that Christianity is persecuted in the largest number of countries in the world in raw numbers. https://www.pewforum.org/2018/06/21/global-uptick-in-government-restrictions-on-religion-in-2016/
The report itself notes that this is likely because Christians (and Muslims) have HUGE populations, and populations in a large number of countries. They're harassed in more countries because there are more of them and they live in more places.
Looking at the change between '15 and '16 shows that while the raw number of countries in which Christians are persecuted grew the most, the rate of change was higher for others. It was a 12.5% increase for Christians. A 17.5% increase for Jews. A 27.8% increase for Hindus.
And even though Christians are persecuted in the largest number of countries, Christians are less likely to live in a place where they are persecuted than anyone else except for Buddhists. 99% of Jews and Hindus live in a place where they are persecuted, 97% of Muslims.
Furthermore, just counting the number of countries in which people are persecuted tells us nothing about how many people are being persecuted, whether it's all of that group or a subset, or how severe the persecution is.
In one paragraph we have displacement and property destruction of indigenous people - a form of genocide - listed alongside Jehovah's witnesses not being allowed to proselytize. Both of these count equally in terms of determining countries in which a group is persecuted.
None of this is to say that religious persecution of Christians doesn't matter. But the hand-wringing about how Christians are "most persecuted" and we're all ignoring the poor oppressed Christians relies on an incredibly myopic look at just one decontextualized statistic.
And just the fact that the first page of Google hits is full of articles like the one in the top QT, that make this argument based on this lack of context, is evidence of Christianity's privilege and power in the world. It's easier to get Christian opinions than the data itself.
ADDENDUM:
As Lailah points out, there's an element of Pew's Christian-normative approach to collecting religious data here too. https://twitter.com/Lailah_Kochav/status/1280639796931633154?s=20
As Lailah points out, there's an element of Pew's Christian-normative approach to collecting religious data here too. https://twitter.com/Lailah_Kochav/status/1280639796931633154?s=20
They count Jehovah's Witnesses not being allowed to proselytize as religious persecution, which assumes that proselytization is a core component of religious practice, and that protecting other people's right *not* to be proselytized to amounts to persecution.
